Sakurazaka46 Rises to No. 1, Sakanaction Debuts at No. 2 on Japan Hot 100
Sakurazaka46‘s “UDAGAWA GENERATION” soars to No. 1 from No. 33 on this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, on the chart released Feb. 26.
The popular girl group’s 11th single, featuring Hikaru Morita in center position, debuted on the chart dated Feb. 5 at No. 28 and stayed in the top 40 for three weeks powered by the digital metrics of the chart’s measurement. This week, the CD version that went on sale Feb. 19 launched with 533,149 copies to hit No. 1 for the metric, while re-entering at No. 9 for downloads with 3,039 units, and hitting No. 18 for streaming with 4,481,440 streams.
Sakanaction’s “Kaiju” debuts at No. 2. This single, released digitally Feb. 20, is the first by the five-member band to be featured as an anime theme song, and accompanies the anime Orb: On the Movements of the Earth that began airing on NHK in October last year. It’s off to a good start, coming in at No. 1 for downloads, No. 3 for streaming, No. 4 for radio, and No. 9 for video views.
After logging its sixth week at No. 1 last week, Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” falls to No. 3, but the Oblivion Battery opener still dominates streaming, video and karaoke, while also coming in at No. 6 for downloads. The three-man band’s “Darling” follows at No. 4 on the Japan Hot 100, coming in at No. 2 for streaming and videos, No. 11 for downloads, No. 19 for karaoke and No. 20 for radio. Mrs. GREEN APPLE continue to take up half the top 10 this week, with “Que Sera Sera” at No. 7, “Bitter Vacances” at No. 8, and “Soranji” at No. 9.
Outside the top 10, HANA reaches a career high with its pre-debut song “Drop,” which dropped Jan. 31 and climbed 36-32-16, then to No. 13 this week. Also, MAZZEL’s new single “J.O.K.E.R.” debuts at No. 18. The official theme song for the Tokyu Land Corporation Breaking World Match 2025 tournament was digitally released Feb. 17 and hits No. 1 for radio, No. 3 for downloads, and No. 14 for video.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.
See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Feb. 17 to 23, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.
Katie Atkinson
Billboard